Granville w



(No Model.)

G. W. WRIGHT.

DOOR CHECK.

No. 468,821. Patented Nov. 24, 1891.

ATENT GRANVILLE \V. WVRIGHT, OF NEl/V HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR. TO THE SARGENT & COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

DOOR-CHECK.

BPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 463,821, dated November 24, 1891.

Application filed April .17, 1891- To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GRANVILLE W. WRIGHT, of New Haven,in the county of New Haven an d State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Door-Checks; and Ido hereby declare the following, when taken in connection accordance with my invention may assume;

Fig. 2, view in elevation of a door provided with my improved door-check; Fig. 3, aview in horizontal section on'the line a b of Fig. 2, and showing the operation ofthe device by full and broken lines. Fig. 4.- is a view in elevation of one of the other forms which my improved device may assume.

My invention relates to an improvement in door-checks, the object being to provide a simple, cheap, and yet very effective device especially adapted for light constructions, such as screen-doors; and the invention consists in the construction as hereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claims.

As herein shown, the bumper consists of a simple hollow rubber ball A, provided with one or more small openings a, and the bumpersupport of a wire rod B, having the said ball attached to its lower end,w hich passes through the same, and provided at its upper end with an eye b,the said ball and rod virtually forming a pendulum. The rod is hung by the said eye so as to swing freely from a stud 19, mounted in a plate C, provided with holes 00, adapting it to be attached to the door D, and having its lower end turned outward at a right angle to form a stop-flange C, constructed with an oblong opening 0, which receives the rod and limits the movement thereof in either direction. The plate is attached to the inner face and near the outer edge of the door, which will ordinarily be provided with a spring (not shown) for closing it. When under the above-described construction the door is allowed to close quickly, its rapid swinging motion will capse' the rod and ball to be thrown outward under the action the lower end of the plate.

Serial No. 389,282. (No model.)

of centrifugal force, so that just before the door reaches the door-jamb D the ball will engage therewith and take the shock which would otherwise be received by the door. The ball being in this manner compressed expels some of its air, and being thus virtually reduced in size drops away from the door and (loor-jamb and resumes its normal shape and pendent position, while the door, if provided with a spring, is quietly closed thereby. The position of this device upon the door will of course be determined by the length of the rod and the size of the ball. It is not necessary to construct this form of my improvement as herein shown and described, for the rod may be made otherwise than of wire and it may be attached directly to the door without the use of the plate C; but in that case some substitute would probably have to be provided for the stop-flange O at For instance, a pin suitably placed in the door would take the place of the flange in limiting the outward movement of the pendulum; but of course it is more convenient to have the device complete in itself, as shown. On the other hand, by properly proportioning the rod and ball and hanging them rightly the device might be operated without a stop. Nor is it necessary that the ball be made hollow, or even of rubber or other elastic material, although an inelastic ball might mar the doorjamb and the door.

As shown by Fig. 4 of the drawings, a bumper consisting of a ball E is attached to the reduced outer end F of a bumper-support consisting of a horizontal bolt F, mounted so as to slide Very freely in strap-bearings G G, attached to a plate G, constructed to be secured to a door. A light spiral spring H, encircling the reduced outer end F of the bolt and interposed between a staple or equivalent stop H, mounted in the plate, and the shoulder H formed by reducing the bolt, as described, holds the bolt and the ball in their retracted positions. When, however, the door is closed quickly, the centrifugal force thus developed will throw the bolt outward against the tension of the spring and permit the ball to engage with the door-jamb and take the shock of the closingdoor, after which the spring will retract the bolt and ball to their normal positions.

Another Way of carrying out myinvention would be to support a ball on an incline attached to the inside of the door and arranged so that the ball would run up the incline when thrown centrifugally outward by the unrestrained closing of the door, and then run back after taking the shock of the same in closing. This construction, it is thought, will be clear without illustration.

Instead of a ball, I may use a bumper in any other form found to be elfective, and I may place the device on the inside or the outside of a door, as desired.

My device is especially useful with doors closed by springs or weights; but is also applicable'to any doors liable to be slammed in closing, whether owing to springs or weights, to drafts of air, or to the carelessness of the persons who use them, the essential feature of my invention being a bumper attached to a door, so as to be moved transversely outward by centrifugal force when the door is quickly closed from whatever cause. I would therefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction and combination herein shown and described; but hold myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations therein as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

I am aware that a door-check consisting of an elastic bulb so suspended that it may be free to swing bodily out of the way as the door is opened and then to swing back to such a position that the door in closing will be temporarily checked by it, then under the continual pressure of the door he forced to turn away and allow the door to close, was known prior to my invention. I therefore do not claim, broadly, such a device; but in such prior device the ball was suspended to the jamb and so as to normally hang between the door and the jamb, and so that as the door approached its closed position it would strike the ball; but I am not aware that such a ball or check has been hung to the door and so that it is brought between the door and jamb only under the centrifugal force produced by the closing movement of the door, this arrangement of the ball or check, whereby the centrifugal action produced by the closing of the door is utilized, being the essential feature of my invention, and as particularly recited in the following claims.

Having fully describedmy invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a door-check, the combination, with a bumper-support adapted to be attached to a door, of an elastic bumper carried by said support, but free under centrifugal action, substantially as set forth, and whereby the bumper is thrown centrifugally outward when the door is rapidly closed.

2. In a door-check, thecombination, with a ball-support adapted to be attached to a door, of an elastic ball carried by the said support, but free under centrifugal action, substantially as described, and whereby the ball will be thrown centrifugally outward to engage with the door-jamb when the door is closed quickly.

3. A door-check composed of an elastic ball attached to the lower end of a rod, which is hung on a door in position to be swung outwardly to let the ball engage the door-jamb when the door is closed quickly, substantially as described.

4. A door-check composed of a ball attached to the lower end of a rod and a plate adapted to be attached to a door and having the said rod suspended from it and provided at its lower end with a flange having an opening formed in it for the rod to pass through, substantially as described.

5. A door-check composed of a perforated hollow rubberball and a ball-support adapted to be attached to a door and constructed to allow the ball to be thrown centrifugally outward, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GRANVILLE IV. VVR-IGIIT.

1 V itnesses:

W. S. 000KB, ELLIOTT LITTLEJOHN. 

